Building Vocabulary w/o Workbooks?

[Daisy]

I broke down this year and bought a workbook for vocabulary (actually I've bought two different ones). WE HATE THEM! My daughter is really struggling with lists of words that have a definition but no real context. And to make it worse many of these words have very similar meanings. Basically she isn't learning the words. She spends all week reading 25 words out of context and then bombs the dumb quiz at the end of the section.

 

We've always just read literature (aloud and independently). She is very good at understanding the meaning of a new word in context.

 

Does anyone have any ideas for teaching her higher level vocabulary without a fill-in-the-blank type workbook?

 

I need something structured enough that we'll actually get it done though.

[Barb_]

What have you used? Maybe it's the curriculum. Some kids really do learn better from context and others do better with workbooks and clear definitions. Yet, each method supports the other and I find that even when workbooks don't seem to be working, just the exposure to the new vocabulary helps to raise reading level and the words are cementing when they come across them naturally.

[Daisy]

Right now I'm just using a workbook called Vocabulary Building.

 

I have Vocabulary Vine but her R&S Spelling this year is Latin Roots so it felt a bit redundant.

 

Is there anything out there that actually teaches vocabulary in context?

 

She reads easily at High School level with good comprehension.

[regentrude]

My kids have a huge vocabulary and they developed it solely form reading and listening to audiobooks and lectures. If you are reading a variety of things, I don't think you need a "program". Encountering the word in context, and repeatedly in different phrases over time is a much better way to increase vocabulary than memorizing word lists.

[wapiti]

Sadlier Oxford's Vocabulary Workshop begins each unit with a reading passage that includes all the words for the unit. Then it gives the definitions, which include example sentences. Then there are various exercises involving fill-in-the-blank sentences, synonyms and antonyms, etc.

[5knights3maidens]

Vocabulary Cartoons and at the moments I can't think of the other books my ds has used. He loved the vocab. cartoons. :001_smile:

[Crimson Wife]

MCT's Caesar's English series does this. For every word taught, MCT provides multiple examples of sentences from literature that use it in context. Check out the sample pages for an example of how he does this.

[Daisy]

Is the TM necessary for MCT or the Sadlier?

[wapiti]

Not for the Sadlier.

[Trish]

Sadlier Oxford's Vocabulary Workshop begins each unit with a reading passage that includes all the words for the unit. Then it gives the definitions, which include example sentences. Then there are various exercises involving fill-in-the-blank sentences, synonyms and antonyms, etc.

 

:iagree:

 

We used Sadlier's Vocabulary Workshop last year for both boys. It does provide a LOT of context, beyond the definitions. It's also good about providing alternate definitions. (I'm not aware of any teaching manual) We liked it and I felt they retained quite a bit.

 

This year my 10-year-old is continuing with the next level of Vocab Workshop, but my 12-year-old wanted something more exciting. So, I found a workbook (also from Sadlier!) called "Vocabulary For Success." This teaches vocabulary through themed chapter units, with a story/article that includes that week's words, followed by teh definitions and several pages of exercises that have some similarities to your traditional fill-ins, but also include more creative things, such as having the student finish a sentence that has the vocabulary word in it, or to create one. There is also some root work. This book is a hit with my 12-year-old.

 

:)

[Crimson Wife]

With MCT, all you need is the TM. It contains the entire student book in the front, and then has the quizzes and answer keys in the back.

[Janice in NJ]

The WTM has a great vocab program. A post-it system makes it simple to implement.

 

Keep a vocabulary notebook. Every day when she finishes her reading, you just check the notebook. Viola! A vocab program.

 

Draw an arrow on two tiny post-it notes; make sure the head of the arrow is at the edge of the post-it. Instruct her to stick the note in her book when she encounters a difficult word. She might be able to tell what the word means because of the context. That's fine. Just encourage her to choose two interesting words and direct the arrows to those words. When she has finished reading, have her relocate the two words and make two entries in her vocab notebook.

 

word - (part of speech as used in the sentence) - definition. (You can add synonyms if you want) Copy the sentence from the book; underline the word. (Title of the book & author, page #) Use the word in a sentence of her own.

 

cowered (verb - past tense; intransitive) - to crouch, as in fear or shame. (Synonyms cringe, recoil) And suddenly in his rush, perhaps because his breath was failing him, he hid himself inside a thorny bush and cowered among its leaves (The Inferno - Dante, 108). Fearful and ashamed after chewing his master's shoe, the dog cowered under his lord's angry grasp.

 

This kind of exercise just demands more work from the child. She has to determine the part of speech. She has to select from the synonyms listed. Then she has the opportunity to copy a beautiful sentence; encourage her to read the sentence aloud and think about why the author chose that particular word. Then she has to formulate a sentence of her own; you can use this opportunity to work on developing more sophisticated sentence structures. (See Kane's Oxford Guide for ideas.)

 

Take the time to review the notebook once a week? A fabulous vocabulary program!

 

If you have to have some kind of test in order to prove to someone that you are doing "vocabulary," just make up a short quiz for the fifth day. Dictate the words. Have her define them and use them in a sentence. Viola! Done!

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

[Laura Corin]

Why do you want a curriculum? If you haven't, I'd check forward at SAT-style questions first, and see whether actually she needs help beyond her osmotic learning.

 

Laura

[Daisy]

The WTM has a great vocab program. A post-it system makes it simple to implement.

 

Keep a vocabulary notebook. Every day when she finishes her reading, you just check the notebook. Viola! A vocab program.

 

Draw an arrow on two tiny post-it notes; make sure the head of the arrow is at the edge of the post-it. Instruct her to stick the note in her book when she encounters a difficult word. She might be able to tell what the word means because of the context. That's fine. Just encourage her to choose two interesting words and direct the arrows to those words. When she has finished reading, have her relocate the two words and make two entries in her vocab notebook.

 

word - (part of speech as used in the sentence) - definition. (You can add synonyms if you want) Copy the sentence from the book; underline the word. (Title of the book & author, page #) Use the word in a sentence of her own.

 

cowered (verb - past tense; intransitive) - to crouch, as in fear or shame. (Synonyms cringe, recoil) And suddenly in his rush, perhaps because his breath was failing him, he hid himself inside a thorny bush and cowered among its leaves (The Inferno - Dante, 108). Fearful and ashamed after chewing his master's shoe, the dog cowered under his lord's angry grasp.

 

This kind of exercise just demands more work from the child. She has to determine the part of speech. She has to select from the synonyms listed. Then she has the opportunity to copy a beautiful sentence; encourage her to read the sentence aloud and think about why the author chose that particular word. Then she has to formulate a sentence of her own; you can use this opportunity to work on developing more sophisticated sentence structures. (See Kane's Oxford Guide for ideas.)

 

Take the time to review the notebook once a week? A fabulous vocabulary program!

 

If you have to have some kind of test in order to prove to someone that you are doing "vocabulary," just make up a short quiz for the fifth day. Dictate the words. Have her define them and use them in a sentence. Viola! Done!

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

 

Why do I not remember this in the WTM book! Awesome. I'm going to hunt it up in my copy.

[Daisy]

Why do you want a curriculum? If you haven't, I'd check forward at SAT-style questions first, and see whether actually she needs help beyond her osmotic learning.

 

Laura

 

I don't really WANT a curriculum, but I've noticed she struggles with words that have similar meanings and I wasn't really sure what to do about it. She also uses words a bit creatively in her writing and wanted to argue with me that the word's meaning could be stretched to include the one she wanted to give it. Since I wanted to minimize battles, I went with a vocab workbook. It didn't help. LOL.

[Capt_Uhura]

I :001_wub: you Janice. :001_smile:

 

The WTM has a great vocab program. A post-it system makes it simple to implement.

 

Keep a vocabulary notebook. Every day when she finishes her reading, you just check the notebook. Viola! A vocab program.

 

Draw an arrow on two tiny post-it notes; make sure the head of the arrow is at the edge of the post-it. Instruct her to stick the note in her book when she encounters a difficult word. She might be able to tell what the word means because of the context. That's fine. Just encourage her to choose two interesting words and direct the arrows to those words. When she has finished reading, have her relocate the two words and make two entries in her vocab notebook.

 

word - (part of speech as used in the sentence) - definition. (You can add synonyms if you want) Copy the sentence from the book; underline the word. (Title of the book & author, page #) Use the word in a sentence of her own.

 

cowered (verb - past tense; intransitive) - to crouch, as in fear or shame. (Synonyms cringe, recoil) And suddenly in his rush, perhaps because his breath was failing him, he hid himself inside a thorny bush and cowered among its leaves (The Inferno - Dante, 108). Fearful and ashamed after chewing his master's shoe, the dog cowered under his lord's angry grasp.

 

This kind of exercise just demands more work from the child. She has to determine the part of speech. She has to select from the synonyms listed. Then she has the opportunity to copy a beautiful sentence; encourage her to read the sentence aloud and think about why the author chose that particular word. Then she has to formulate a sentence of her own; you can use this opportunity to work on developing more sophisticated sentence structures. (See Kane's Oxford Guide for ideas.)

 

Take the time to review the notebook once a week? A fabulous vocabulary program!

 

If you have to have some kind of test in order to prove to someone that you are doing "vocabulary," just make up a short quiz for the fifth day. Dictate the words. Have her define them and use them in a sentence. Viola! Done!

 

Peace,

Janice

 

Enjoy your little people

Enjoy your journey

[yvonne]

Janice, This is fantastic! I don't know how I missed it. Thanks for posting it!

[Satori]

Without workbooks? I just posted a reply on the K-8 board when someone mentioned vocabulary.com. I'm an ANKI fan as I've been personally building up my vocabulary this year. But Vocabulary.com is even better.

 

Last night I discovered I could use vocabulary.com on my iPad. I played until I got to PRODIGY level. I just love sites like this that reward you with badges and points.

 

62,350

PRODIGY

 

The vocabulary testing is amazingly addictive and fun, plus the most helpful of all the various vocabulary resources I've used. It very efficiently determines your vocabulary level and you get tested on words that are not too easy or too hard. You get tested on various definitions, sentences, etc... It shows the Greek and Latin roots. Once you "master" a word, you'll still get quizzed on it now and then down the road.

 

The dictionary is amazing! I think I'll be using this from now on. Just head to the site and use the Vocabulary Challenge to see how fast and versatile it is.

[Capt_Uhura]

Satori, thanks for the vocab.com link. That will be fantastic to go along w/ the books.google.com work in WWS!

[sagira]

Without workbooks? I just posted a reply on the K-8 board when someone mentioned vocabulary.com. I'm an ANKI fan as I've been personally building up my vocabulary this year. But Vocabulary.com is even better.

 

Last night I discovered I could use vocabulary.com on my iPad. I played until I got to PRODIGY level. I just love sites like this that reward you with badges and points.

 

62,350

PRODIGY

 

The vocabulary testing is amazingly addictive and fun, plus the most helpful of all the various vocabulary resources I've used. It very efficiently determines your vocabulary level and you get tested on words that are not too easy or too hard. You get tested on various definitions, sentences, etc... It shows the Greek and Latin roots. Once you "master" a word, you'll still get quizzed on it now and then down the road.

 

The dictionary is amazing! I think I'll be using this from now on. Just head to the site and use the Vocabulary Challenge to see how fast and versatile it is.

 

Wow! I'm a new fan, thanks!

[ChrissySC]

Have you considered more of a CM approach? You could use copywork to enrich vocabulary. I use a workbook, but mainly we complete to become familiar with a large volume of words. To actually impress upon the mind the vocabulary, we do copywork from rich literature and complex historical references and archives.

 

HTH

 

Edit: We use a Wow box to hold words for future use.

[Daisy]

Thanks everyone. I think we've decided to do a mix of approaches for right now (and all free). We'll integrate the WTM approach into her reading, use vocabulary.com (totally addicting by the way), and I'm going to try and have her work on non-biblical copywork.

 

We usually do copywork out of the Bible which probably explains why they have excellent Biblical vocabulary. I need to branch out more though.

 

All of the above seems painless and I think the vocabulary.com will actually be fun.

[Colleen in NS]

Does anyone have any ideas for teaching her higher level vocabulary without a fill-in-the-blank type workbook?

 

I need something structured enough that we'll actually get it done though.

 

We'll integrate the WTM approach into her reading,

 

Along with this, I'd also suggest that Latin study will help build English vocabulary, too, esp. if you talk about derivatives as you learn Latin vocabulary.

[Karen in CO]

What worked for us was to used a good list of words like the 100 Classic words then just tackle them one at a time. I thought it'd be better to go slowly and really learn the words, and we have lots of time. We started with the 100 Classic words from MCT. The list is free, and the words are used often in the books we read. Learning them slowly like this really helped to get them into our daily vocabulary. We found that making a vocabulary map for each word gave structure to our learning. Below, I included a couple of lists of words and two samples of vocabulary maps.

 

100 Classic Words SAT Vocabulary

Word Map

Another vocabulary map

[Daisy]

Thanks, Karen.

[lisabees]

My kids have a huge vocabulary and they developed it solely form reading and listening to audiobooks and lectures. If you are reading a variety of things, I don't think you need a "program". Encountering the word in context, and repeatedly in different phrases over time is a much better way to increase vocabulary than memorizing word lists.

 

:iagree:This and copywork.

 

And leave Vocabulary Cartoons books in bathroom. ;)

[Capt_Uhura]

I'm trying to think of how to implement WTM vocabulary. I had initially thought of a composition book arrange alphabetically. But I nixed that idea b/c it would be too hard to find the words he had added that week. So then I switched to a composition book in order the words are put in. But then I had the thought of index cards so that at any point, he could arrange them any way he wants. Any thoughts?

[wapiti]

I'm trying to think of how to implement WTM vocabulary. I had initially thought of a composition book arrange alphabetically. But I nixed that idea b/c it would be too hard to find the words he had added that week. So then I switched to a composition book in order the words are put in. But then I had the thought of index cards so that at any point, he could arrange them any way he wants. Any thoughts?

 

Could you do a spreadsheet or Word table that could be sorted alphabetically? You could also add a column with a date or week number, for an alternate way to sort.

[Shawn On the Border]

We really loved Caesar's English, and it helped my younger son a lot with the reading of some classic texts. It was fun to study words, and how they were used by famous authors. I think we both enjoy an oral lesson more than a workbook lesson. He also made flash cards to study for the quizzes (not his favorite thing, but a valuable skill).

 

My older son never studied vocabulary (except a little bit in a literature program). He learned most of his extensive vocabulary from reading. I think if a child is reading a varied selection of challenging material, he will learn a lot of vocabulary without a specific curriculum.

[Poke Salad Annie]

Hyde's Derivation of Words is available free at Google books.

 

One other alternative is to have the *word of the day*. Simply introduce a new word and try to use it throughout the day as often as possible. Free and easy.

[Kareni]

I think that reading is perhaps the best prep for a large vocabulary. If you're looking for some less formal resources for the Logic stage, I'll recommend a couple.

 

Vocabulary Cartoons: SAT Word Power by Sam Burchers

 

and the sequel Vocabulary Cartoons II: SAT Word Power by Sam Burchers

 

I learned a lot of my vocabulary reading the column It Pays to Increase Your Word Power in the Readers Digest when I was growing up. Here's a link to an out of print collection of the column.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Create Your Ritual]

Capt. I would be curious to know what you come up with for organizing them. I guess it could just be something as simple as a page of vocab each week in the notebook .. I may be over thinking it. ha

[jenniferp8]

Vocabulary Cartoons and at the moments I can't think of the other books my ds has used. He loved the vocab. cartoons. :001_smile:

 

We've used vocabulary cartoons too and really like them. I'd read 2-3 words per day and then by Friday we'd "quiz" on the 10 words in that section. I was amazed at how the simple cartoons and word associations were so easy for my kids (and me) to remember even when we'd go back to some weeks later.

My kids were 11, 10 and 8 when we were using them.

[Daisy]

I bought the vocab cartoons (it is still on its way) and the kids are LOVING vocabulary.com.

 

I've also starting being more diligent about working on the vocabulary in their reading.

 

Everyone is much happier about this arrangement. Thanks for all the advice, ladies.

[leeannpal]

:iagree:This and copywork.

 

And leave Vocabulary Cartoons books in bathroom. ;)

Vocabulary Workshop is a nice program. It has online practice areas too.

 

I do blieve that the best way to build good vocabulary is to be a voracious reader. However, for those who aren't particularly right-brained, this method might not work. Some kids actually need more structure.

 

www.vocabularyworkshop.com

[kathkath]

Here is a google image search of word mapping, which is a visual way to learn word meanings.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=THWCTpi6McWBtgeFsaiJAg&ved=0CEEQsAQ&q=vocabulary%20word%20map&orq=vocabulary+word++map&biw=1138&bih=661

[East Coast Sue]

We use the Merriam Webster Word of the Day. I gave my dd10 a composition notebook and she records the following each day from the Merriam Webster website:

1. The word of the Day

2. Phonetic Spelling

3. Part of speech

4. Definition

5. Use it in a sentence

6. Word origin/root

 

It has definitely helped her build a bigger vocabulary. There is also a word quiz on the website each day. HTH!